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Last Flight For Ultralight Led Whooping Crane Migration

IMAGE VIA PIXABAY

Since 2001, the Whooping Crane (Grus americana) migration from Wisconsin to Florida has been led by a human-piloted ultralight aircraft. Now, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has decided to their suspend support to the program.

Whooping cranes only occur in North America and are listed as an endangered species. Currently, there is only one wild self-sustaining wild population. The population led by ultralight aircraft from Wisconsin to Florida each year is captive-raised.

The decision to end the ultralight program, according to the USFWS, is to protect the birds. According to a statement by the USFWS one of the goals for the Wisconsin-Florida population was to rear birds that were self-sustaining. However the captive-raised population has been unsuccessful in producing offspring. It is thought that their inability to raise offspring has to do with poor parenting skills which have been hindered by human intervention.

According to The Chicago Tribune 250 whooping cranes have been released into the Wisconsin-Florida population since 2001. Currently, only 93 are still alive and only 10 chicks lived long enough to fledge. Whooping cranes have a 30-year lifespan.

Crane experts now think that human intervention is having a negative impact on this particular whooping crane population. Human interaction will now be very limited and the practice of humans dressed in crane costumes to help with chick-rearing will end. The idea is to cutback human interaction so that the cranes can develop their own rearing skills.

scientists believe that the black fly problem coupled poor parenting skills are to blame for poor population numbers.

Those who oppose the end of the ultralight-led migration say that the chicks might not pick up on the adults’ cues to migrate and would consequently be left behind. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that young adult cranes, in the Wisconsin-Florida population, abandon their nests due to black flies. Now scientists believe that the black fly problem coupled poor parenting skills are to blame for poor population numbers.

As of 2010, there are only 535 whooping cranes left. This number includes wild populations and captive bred populations. Current population numbers were unavailable at the time of this story.

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